J.R. Allison writes literary fiction set on the Maine Coast. Everything here is free to read. Download the books and stories below in PDF or DOCX format.
Rock Bottom & Rising Tide
Anthology of Maine Island based short fiction and novelettes, 275 pages.
Excerpt from the short story Between a Rock
What I need here, I think, is a miracle. Just a small one. Dammit! I come down here this mornin' just the same as any other, looking to keep myself fed for just one more day and now I'm supposed to die here? All from one slime-covered rock? Well, I'll be doubly-god-damned if I'm just gonna set down here in the mud and drown like some idiot flatlander. No sir, I won't have it.
A Moxie and a Pop-Tart
The wildly funny, unexpectedly moving memoir of Bonnie-Kate Caldwell — a tiny woman from a remote Maine island who loses body parts at an alarming rate and refuses, on principle, to be defeated by any of it. Bonnie-Kate has lost an eye, half a leg, several fingers, and count of the men and women who didn't survive her affections — but never, not once, her sense of humor. 789 pages.
Excerpt
How does a four-and-a-half foot tall, seventy-pound woman, somewhat pregnant, carry a man six-foot-two and a hundred eighty-five down a mountain?
It was my turn to say "Fuckfuckfuck."
When I was finished with that, I figured out what had to be done and I just fucking did it. Don't ask me how.
About the Author
J.R. Allison is a retired lobsterman who worked the waters around the Downeast Maine islands before retiring in Portland. His writing draws on his years along the Maine coast and explores a wide range of voices, moods, and perspectives. He is the author of the short fiction anthology Rock Bottom & Rising Tide. A Moxie and a Pop Tart is his first novel. He has won no awards of any kind, but there’s always that chance.
More free stuff
The Thousand Pound Day - A sternman's thousand-pound haul turns into a fight for survival when ambition and a winter storm collide off the Maine coast. PDF or DOCX
The Eyes Have It (Or Jonah's Revenge) - A sharp, funny short story about class, cruelty, and second chances, told by a one-eyed lobsterman with no patience for nonsense. PDF or DOCX
McCahery's Mistake - The saga of an Irish-American family cursed by generations of spectacular misfortune on a remote Maine island, where bad luck is practically a birthright. PDF or DOCX
Contact J.R. Allison
or email: jrallisonATjrallisonDOTcom